Friday, November 16, 2007

Croup

Had to go to the doctor's office today. Why? Brandon, as it turns out, has croup. This does explain why he came downstairs yesterday, calling my name, but sounding like an 85 year old asthmatic smoker. He's never ever sounded hoarse or lost his voice, so I knew something was wrong. He had a fever, was wheezing a bit, and had this cough that sounded like a seal from Marine World had been let loose somewhere in our house. He'd been fine on Wednesday, and then suddenly can't breathe. This morning when he came downstairs, I asked him how he was. His reply: "sick". As we sat on the couch while he had a juice and water combo, he asked me to call his preschool teacher and tell her that he couldn't come in today. Nothing gets past Brandon. I called the pediatrician's office and got him an appointment at 4:15. Good thing, because I heard Brandon coughing, wheezing and crying in his room around 3:30. When I went in he was crying very hard, drooling excessively, and saying he couldn't breathe. I'm not usually a panicky mom, but I could feel that rising up in me. But we had an appointment. I knew I had to calm him down. Brandon can work himself up into a frenzy. Even as a baby we couldn't let him "cry it out" in his crib because he would become hysterical. It took me half an hour to calm him down enough to get him in the car. I had to calm myself down first, which was good. At least I wasn't acting the manic mother role.

The doctor confirmed our suspicions, and prescribed a steroid to help with the swollen airways. He sounds a little better, but still very seal-like. Hopefully the prednisone will work, and he can start healing. We were also advised to sleep in the same room as him and keep him under observation for the evening. Neither Brian nor I relish the idea of sleeping with Brandon in his twin bed, so we set up his toddler bed in our room, along with the humidifier. Brandon, of course, thought that was a great idea. One of our better ones. He just loves sleeping in the same room with us. He thinks the guest room at my parent's house is the best thing ever because we are all together! We are hoping that the steroids and the humidifier do a little work overnight, and that he feels better in the morning. I'm a little worried about how long he's going to want to sleep in our room after he's better. I'll happily deal with that once this is over.


Brandon, excited about sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom

Fascinated by the humidifier


He didn't believe that the steam wasn't hot

A good chunk of Brandon's stuffed animals somehow migrated into our bedroom as well.

1 comment:

Christa said...

Oh no! Tell Brandon I am sad he is sick, it's no fun. I feel for mom also. Little one's always think it's a treat to sleep in the same room as mom and dad. I just hope he sleeps so you can sleep or get a good nights rest.